Exhibit ”MM”, tabled this week at the Desai inquiry into the Western Cape political funding scandal, has further underlined the murky dealings between German tax fugitive Jürgen Harksen and the Democratic Alliance.
The cheque counterfoil shows R500 000 in favour of the DA, but it was altered to prevent the link emerging in Harksen’s ongoing sequestration hearing.
Cheque number 183 was eventually cancelled, contrary to Harksen’s public commitment at a fund-raiser at a Clifton seafront bungalow to Gerald Morkel — former Western Cape premier and now Cape Town mayor — and former finance MEC Leon Markovitz.
Under cross-examination on Thursday by the advocate representing the DA, Morkel and Markovitz, the German backtracked on the sequence and period of his donations. However, he insisted he paid a total of R750 000 in cash to the party.
The cheque — with a web of bank accounts, close corporations and trusts — emerged in the testimony of Antonie Karsten, Harksen’s former ”best friend”, who blew the whistle in the fallout over a failed investment of R2,5-million.
Earlier this year Karsten handed crucial documents to the trustees of Harksen’s estate, which led to a police investigation and charges of fraud and corruption involving R60-million against the German and his wife, Jeanette.
The construction developer testified how he made out the R500 000 cheque on his Voyager Trust after Harksen promised to transfer sufficient funds into the account. This never happened. Later Harksen told him he had ”sorted out” the DA with ”brownies” — DM1 000 notes.
”It [the cheque] was never presented. I never got it back,” said Karsten. Explaining the changes on the counterfoil from ”DA” to ”DADI” and the deletion of ”500 000”, he said: ”I didn’t want any reference to the DA in my accounts. I just thought if I made an alteration they [the trustees] wouldn’t pick it up.”
Karsten also testified he was present when Harksen handed a package ”like an envelope” containing cash to Markovitz.
Previously the Desai commission heard an envelope containing Deutschmarks was collected at Markovitz’s office by former DA provincial secretary Werner Schwella, after receiving a telephone call from Morkel.
Schwella then contacted former Absa senior manager Erik Marais, who testified he had used his passport to exchange most of the Deutschmarks in instalments.
The remainder was handed to Scorpion investigators probing money laundering, fraud and corruption. The probe is complete, with investigators awaiting the commission’s outcome.
Meanwhile, trustees of the Harksen estate have summonsed the DA to retrieve the Deutschmarks exchanged by Marais, who was sacked by Absa but now works for the Cape Town unicity.
”We would not institute legal proceedings without a chance of success,” said trustee Michael Lane.
The DA has yet to complete audits of its national and provincial bank accounts and the personal accounts of Morkel and Markovitz. DA national leader Tony Leon announced the forensic audit nearly three months ago after the first round of politically damaging revelations in the Harksen saga.
Morkel and Markovitz have repeatedly denied accepting donations from Harksen — an unrehabilitated insolvent since 1995 — but acknowledged that their public association with him at fund-raisers, cigar bars and posh restaurants was inappropriate.
Further testimony on financial dealings involving Morkel and Harksen through a complicated net of associates came to light this week.
Morkel initiated plans to establish an offshore account with an initial funding of R10-million from a Swiss source in January 2002 to benefit the DA. This was abandoned, as due diligence requirements meant the funder had to be disclosed.
However, a domestic trust account, the Western Cape Democracy Development Trust, was established to receive cash for the DA, with Morkel, Markovitz and attorney Earl Hunter as trustees and accounts at Absa and Nedbank.